Joseph Nicholson's Blog

I’m a Superman fanboy—anyone who knows me knows that. Always have been, always will be. So when I say that Batman stole the show, you’ll understand my full meaning.
This movie is something for which I had been waiting my entire young life to see (I was more excited for this movie than I was for “The Force Awakens”). From the time I was a kid I’ve wanted to see Bats and Supes together in a movie. Nearly twenty years ago, the three part episode of the Superman Animated Series, “World’s Finest,” where Superman and Batman meet for the first time and take on The Joker, Harley Quin, Lex Luthor and Mercy, aired and quickly became my three most favorite episodes of any cartoon… EVER. Then the Justice League cartoons aired and I nearly lost my $h:t! So after “Man of Steel” hit theaters, we finally got a movie that could really showcase what Superman was capable of and showed that there were real consequences to God-like beings duking it out in a populated area. The only logical steps that Snyder could take to up the ante were either a Superman sequel or put one the biggest, most iconic superhero matchups in history on the big screen. I’ve both read my fair share of Batman/Superman graphic novels, like “Public Enemies,” “Supergirl,” “Vengeance,” “The Search for Kryptonite,” etc… and seen their animated counterparts as well as watched “The Dark Knight Returns Part II” SPECIFICALLY for the battle between Superman and Batman. Snyder got a LOT of his inspiration for “Dawn of Justice” from that animated movie. From the powered armor suit that Batman wore, to Batman’s normal outfit, to the various techniques (I won’t say what they are) to combat Superman, they all came from DKII. I highly recommend that movie as well.
Okay, enough of me gushing over this movie like a screaming teeny bopper at a Beatles concert. Let’s get to the meat and potatoes, shall we?
Batman.
Like everyone else, I was skeptical of Batfleck. A bad taste in my mouth from the travesty that was the Daredevil movie still lingered like the garlic aioli from Red Robin. And there were few movies with him in it that I enjoyed (in fact, the only one that comes to mind right of the bat—pun intended—was “Armageddon”). I warmed up a little when I saw what this Batman was going to look like. What the other movies lacked was one of the classic black-and-gray outfits from the comics. Here it was! I was so excited! Then I saw him in action on Thursday night and holy balls! He nailed it! Just nailed it! A gritty, weary, older Batman who had already been through hell, comes to Metropolis to exact revenge on the man responsible for the deaths on hundreds of Wayne Enterprises employees. He’s cold, he’s calculated, he’s smart, and he’s ruthless. In combat scenes, he’s leaping about like an acrobat, nearly impossible to hit, brutally pummeling baddies to a pulp with his bare hands!
The previews show one of the antagonists: Doomsday (it’s no secret) and Batman holds his own against the monster while Superman and Wonder Woman deal out earth-shaking punishment.
Some people said that Ben wasn’t fit enough to play the Dark Knight. I can whole-heartedly disagree. There’s a montage scene in the movie where Bruce is training for his encounter with Superman and he’s doing chin-ups with a forty-five pound weight strapped to his ankles and, let me tell you, he’s in need of a good seamstress because he is RIPPED! He has beaten out Michael Keaton as my new favorite Batman of ALL TIME.
Superman.
There’s not much to say here. He’s just as awesome as he was in “Man of Steel.” I like how Snyder portrays him as fallible. That, despite all his powers, he is capable of making mistakes and bad decisions (I won’t go into details). There is a huge population of people in the movie who hate and fear him for being an alien and he handles it like anyone would, with frustration, doubt and guilt. Snyder does a great job at making him seem more human while still showcasing what the most power man in the world can do. Henry Cavill throws us another solid performance as the Man of Steel and of all the actors who have portrayed Superman, he has the physique to sell it. The dude is HUGE! He has, like, muscles on top of muscles.
Wonder Woman.
I had no idea who Gal Gadot was until this movie, but she looked the part for sure. I’m used to a more blusterous Diana, but she did a great job at bringing a different angle to the character. In her Amazonian Armor, she looks totally badass and does a real number on Doomsday with powers that are comparable to the comics. In my opinion, she didn’t have enough screen time, but it wasn’t Batman vs Superman vs Wonder Woman, so I suppose she was bound to have a smaller role. I am now, however, very interested in seeing her solo movie whereas before, not so much.
Alfred.
Okay, I’ve been a Jeremy Irons fan for a while—ever since “Die Hard with a Vengeance.” If you thought Michael Caine was a good Alfred, or Sean Pertwee, you will be pleasantly surprised in his portrayal of Wayne’s butler/medic/mechanic/tactical over watch/whatever Batman needs at that instant. I absolutely LOVED him! He was able to pull off the fatherly role, while still being a badass in his own right. He’s Batman’s moral compass and voice of reason.
Lex Luthor.
I’ll admit that, at first, I was NOT impressed with Jesse Eisenberg’s performance of Lex, but it grew on me throughout the movie. I wasn’t thrilled about some of the personality traits that Eisenberg gave the criminal mastermind. However, by the end of the movie, I hated his guts—in a good way! He was calculated, brilliant, even a little bit of a creeper than other iterations and downright diabolical! I mean the dude was just EVIL! Now I compare his performance on par with Kevin Spacey’s. All-in-all, a solid performance.
Doomsday.
What’s the say? He’s a monster. He’s Kryptonian. And he f*#ks $h;t up. Though a slightly different origin story from the comics, he’s still an imposing beast that gives all three heroes a run for their money combined.
Lois Lane.
Amy Adams was an interesting choice for the brash reporter in “Man of Steel.” Despite my misgivings, I was happy with her performance—and let’s face it’s, she’s easy on the eyes and, in my opinion, far more attractive than Margot Kidder or Kate Bosworth. She brings Lois to life and acts as a moral compass for Superman, but also a great distraction.
My overall feeling.
In a word? Epic! This movie exceeded all my expectations and those expectations were pretty high—as mentioned in the first paragraph. It had just the right amount of humor, cheese (it is a superhero movie, after all), drama, plot (a pretty strong plot, actually) and action (though let’s be honest; any ardent Superman/Batman fan could’ve sat through two hours of nothing but the two of them pummeling each other). There’s a LOT going on, so pay attention. Lex’s involvement brings to him to a whole new level of evil. There are Easter Eggs EVERYWHERE and not-so-subtle hints to what’s on the horizon (Darkseid/Apakalypse, which was shown in the last preview before the movie’s release). It features brief cameos of other heroes (you’ll see what I mean) and the ending totally sets up Justice League. As far as I’m concerned, Rotten Tomatoes go f*^k themselves in their dumb faces. Critics give movies like these bad reviews because they have no effing clue about the lore and fandom behind the Superheroes. They don’t get it. Maybe I’m just insanely easy to please, but I think any fan of Superman and Batman will love this movie. I did! I intend on seeing it again before it leaves the theaters. It was SO good!

I’ve seen this fan theory all over Facebook—I’m sure you have, too. I may be jumping onto the bandwagon, but I have a strong feeling that the Force is telling me that Snoke and Vader are one and the same.

First, I’ll throw out some facts that support this theory and then some hypotheticals to fill in the gaps and add support to this claim.
I’ll start with the most obvious fact—the fact that brought this whole theory to light. The scaring on Snoke’s head and left cheek are strikingly similar in appearance to that of Anakin’s when he takes the mask and helmet off. There are those who say that the scars aren’t identical, more specifically that Snoke’s head scar is much bigger and works its way closer to his eyebrows. This is true. However, when I was 18, I got a gnarly scar on the inside of my leg by trying to jump a flashflood ditch. Now, at almost 35, that scar is nearly twice as big as it was then. I know people who had open heart surgery as babies and their scars are pretty spectacular in adulthood. So, in short, your scars get bigger as you get older. Since Vader would be well over a hundred years old by the time The Force Awakens takes place, it would stand to reason that his scars would change in size.

From what we saw of Snoke, he looks like a man who has been severely burned (I will touch on this again later). His ears are all melted and deformed and he has no eyebrows to speak of, no lips and his nose is practically not there. He also looks very, VERY old and haggard.

Next, let’s talk about Anakin and what we know about him. As much as it pains me, midichlorians are a part of canon. That being said, Anakin was not only a being created by the Force, he had a higher midichlorian count than Yoda, the Grand Master of the Jedi Order, meaning that he was most powerful Force user in the galaxy in recent history, maybe ever. If that were the case, why didn’t Anakin’s body disappear like Yoda’s or Obi-wan’s? He was certainly powerful enough and in tune with the Force, yet he didn’t become one with the Force like the others.

He has already demonstrated that he can survive being burned alive, hence the birth of man who is “more machine, now, than man. Twisted and evil.” You may ask where I’m going with this; I’ll get to that in a moment.

Now, there are some facts that debunk this theory. One being that Luke burned Vader’s body and Anakin’s Force ghost appears next to Obi-wan and Yoda at the end of Return of the Jedi. This is where some speculation comes into play. What if Luke burned Vader alive? We know he used the Force to keep himself alive while burning on the shore of a lava river on Mustafar. Why couldn’t he have done that again? While his armor burned around him, he was able to keep himself alive with the Force. That would certainly explain why Snoke has the appearance of a man who has been burned alive. It would also explain the worsened scarring—coupled with age. This is where I may be stretching a little, but what if Obi-wan and Yoda fabricated an Anakin ghost to give Luke closure, to make him feel like he saved his dad and could move on with his life never realizing that his dad was still alive and that he burned him alive—unwittingly, of course.

Also, there is, though I didn’t see it myself, apparently a skull hiding into Vader’s melted mask when Kylo Ren is swearing to finish what Vader started. That can be easily faked and I will get to that in a minute. The other is that Snoke appears to have all his limbs in his holographic representations when talking to Kylo Ren. He also appears to, like, twenty feet tall. So if he could manipulate his size, he could probably manipulate the appearance of his limbs. Or Force forbid that he had organic-looking prosthetics like Luke’s original hand.

So here is my grand theory. Take if for what you will.
Vader is NOT dead, he is Snoke.

Seeing a chance to usurp the Emperor and take control, he takes down Palpatine while he is distracted frying the hell out of Luke with enough Force Lightning to power Mos Eisely or Anchorhead. Upon killing the Emperor, he realizes that he is indeed the Chosen One and becomes obsessed with bringing balance to the Force, he is neither light, nor dark, neither a Jedi, nor Sith (as Abrams said, Snoke is NOT a Sith Lord). Knowing that Luke would kill him in his weakened state—and that he would need all his strength to survive what he knew was coming next, he fakes his death. He allows Luke to burn his body, calling heavily on the Force to keep himself alive, as he did when he burned alive on Mustafar—by this point, he’s an old pro.

Luke thinks his father’s dead, that he has won. While he celebrates in the Ewok village with his comrades, Vader personifies the Phoenix and rises from the ashes of his funeral spire. He has a plethora of bodies from which to choose after a bloody battle on Endor that has left hundreds, maybe thousands dead. He takes a body and puts it amongst the ashes in an attempt to sell his death to anyone who went looking for him, including Kylo Ren. Yoda and Obi-wan know this, but fabricate an Anakin ghost to give Luke the closure he needs to move on and start rebuilding the Jedi Order with a clear conscience.

Over the years, Vader/Anakin/Snoke hides in the shadows while Luke rebuilds the Order, waiting like a predator ready to pounce. When the time is right, Snoke swoops in and takes control of the New Order from the remnants of the Empire. He sees another opportunity in a young man with his blood, Ben Solo. He reaches out to Ben, corrupts him. Ben falls to the dark side, becoming Kylo Ren, and destroys the budding Jedi Order, once again bringing balance to the Force. It is my opinion that Snoke never intended to destroy Luke, but to lay out an elaborate plan that would lead Rey to Luke under the guise of seeking to destroy him. I doubt Kylo Ren would have gone along with Snoke’s plan otherwise. Now there are two, a master and an apprentice, Luke and Rey, Snoke and Kylo.

Balance.
Well, what do you think? You think it’s possible?

“Live long and prosper.”
From hardcore, diehard fans, to people who watched it occasionally, those four words are some of the most popular amongst Star Trek fans everywhere. Words cannot express the profound sadness I feel today, knowing that one of the most amazing people in the Star Trek family has passed on to the Final Frontier. Of course I am speaking of the impeccable Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy. The word heartbroken comes to mind when I think of us (Trekkies or Trekkers, whichever you prefer) losing such an outstanding member of our extended family. And we ARE a family. We all shared in the joy and grief of those we idolized on the silver screen. There isn’t a Trekkie alive that doesn’t feel pain tugging at his or her heart at the end of “Wrath of Khan.” The line “I am, and always shall be, your friend,” right before he dies brings the water works on every time. And now, there isn’t a Trekkie out there that isn’t saddened by this news. Why? Because we care about those characters, we care about their stories, their pasts, their futures and, in turn, we end up caring about the actors who portrayed them. That is the essence of family, whether the actors consider us family or not. We basically had these people in our homes every week for an hour for decades.
That’s why Mr. Nimoy’s passing has rocked us all to our core. Regrettably, I never had the opportunity to meet him in person, but all the stories that I’ve heard would lead me to believe that he was a gentle soul who truly loved his fans. His coworkers thought very highly of him and we never saw him in the tabloids like so many actors and actresses nowadays. I idolized him. I identified with Spock on many levels. Being a person with a hot temper, I could empathize with Spock for always having his emotions boiling just beneath the surface. As a nerd, I know what it feels like to be an outcast.
My mom and I used to go to New York every summer to visit my grandma. On a rainy day, my grandma would get her purse and car keys and ask if I’d like to run some errands with her. Well, rather than being cooped up all day, I’d go with her. And every time, we’d end up at the movie store in town. It was a quaint little store with probably the worst selection of movies I’d ever seen, but they had a copy of “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” which, by far, is my favorite TOS movie. I particularly love his role in that movie. It was bittersweet being one of his best performances and the last time he would step onto the bridge of the Enterprise. I was so thrilled that he reprised his role for the JJ Abrams movies, that I nearly wept tears of joy. Some of my favorite episodes of TNG revolve around a certain term, “cowboy diplomacy.”
I am deeply saddened by this news. He will be sorely missed. He was humanitarian, a brilliant actor and a hero to millions of Trekkies everywhere.
What’s even sadder is that it’s a stark reminder of our own mortality. When my best friend texted me to tell me what happened, I met it with disbelief as I didn’t even realize that he was sick. I mean, I knew he had COPD, but I didn’t hear anything about any complications until after he passed. I felt like my heart actually stopped for a moment as tears welled up in my eyes. He’d been a hero of mine since I was a child. After accepting the news, I told my best friend, “You know you’re getting old when your heroes start dying,” and it’s true. I can only imagine how my dad felt when John Wayne died. I can only imagine how I will feel when Shatner passes away.
Unfortunately that reminds me of a piece of Trek history. Though I’m not the biggest fan of “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier,” there is a moment in that movie that always moves me. At the beginning, Kirk, Spock and Bones are enjoying some R&R in the wilderness. Bone’s is an emotional wreck because Kirk decides to scale a sheer cliff face. About half way up, Spock pops up next to Kirk sporting some rocket boots and tells Kirk basically that he’s an idiot for attempting something like that without any safety equipment. The conversation ultimately leads to Kirk getting distracted and falling.
Of course, Spock zips down after Kirk and catches him just before he hits the ground.
Later that night, they’re all sitting around the campfire eating baked beans spiked with whisky. Bone’s is giving Kirk an earful as Kirk calmly listens. After Bones’ tirade, Kirk tells him that even then, when he was falling to his death, he was unafraid because he knew he wouldn’t die. He said he always knew that when he died, he’d die alone. So as long as he had those two by his side he would survive even the direst situations. Two of the trio are now gone leaving Shatner alone. I know that’s not too profound, but nonetheless I get choked up thinking about that scene and what it meant then and what it could possibly mean for the future.
I think the hardest part is that even though we know that these people are not Kirk or Spock or Bones or Scotty, we identify them by roles they played and it’s difficult separate the two. We watched them cheat death time and time again always finding a way to survive what surely should have been a no-win situation.
“My God, Bones. What have I done?” Kirk asks, as he watches what’s left of the Enterprise—HIS Enterprise—burn up in the atmosphere of the Genesis Planet.
“What you had to do, what you always do,” Bones replies. “Turn death into a fighting chance to live.”
We’ve grown so accustomed to seeing that same scenario play out over and over again, that when those heroes finally succumb to the inevitable, we can’t believe it.
There’s a silver lining, though. In “Wrath of Khan,” Spock passes his Katra to Bones just before he dies so that his spirit would live on.
Well, Leonard, rest in peace knowing that your Katra, your spirit will live on the hearts and minds of those who watched, loved and idolized you.
Live long and prosper, Leonard Nimoy. You will be missed...

The Seryys Chronicles: Death WishThe other day, I was talking with a few buddies of mine about the latest installment of “Alien” franchise “Alien: Isolation” and how amazing it is. For a video game it perfectly embodies the whole essence of the Alienverse. I got to thinking about how far we’ve come with one of my favorite pastimes. I tend to break it up into console releases. Yes, PC’s were hugely popular and a lot the same games were available for each simultaneously, but I think a majority of the gaming industry hinged on the various consoles.
I remember back in the mid ‘80s when I got my first gaming console: A Nintendo Entertainment System. My family had a Commodore 64 and I had two games for it: Rambo and some space fighter simulation game that I never played because I would blow four of my six lives just trying to get out of the blasted hangar. The loading time was long enough for me to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and even use the bathroom. So I don’t think that counts.
I was the first kid on my block to get an NES and thusly I became the most popular kid on the block. It also kicked off a thirty-year obsession. I got it for Christmas and when I opened it, I nearly lost my S%$t! When I plugged it in, I basked in its 8bit awesomeness. At that moment, my life—at the ripe old age of five—was complete. “Super Mario Bros.” was the most amazing game I had ever played. “Look at those graphics!” I told my dad, as he watched me play it for the first time. In as far as side scrollers go, Mario was the godfather, but let’s face it, the plot was kinda lacking. Am I right? Sure, things for the NES only got better. Games like “Final Fantasy” and “Legend of Zelda” brought some pretty exciting storytelling to the table.
To this day, I still enjoy Mario 3 as one of my favorite games of all time.
In the early ‘90’s I got a Sega Genesis and with that console came games like “Mortal Kombat.” My mom was SO mad at my dad for getting me that game along with the sequel. For the first time, real people were used to make the characters, though crude by today’s standards, it was still something to behold. Still a console of side scrolling, with games like “Sonic the Hedgehog,” the 16bit upgrade was big jump in the gaming world. With the releases of the 32x and the Sega CD upgrades, we saw some pretty spectacular things during the mid-to-late-‘90’s. “Dragon’s Lair” was by far my favorite game to play. Incorporating actual cartoon animation was a brilliant and original idea that I absolutely loved!
Introducing CDs into the world of consoles was pretty ingenious as PC had been doing successfully for years. This is about the time that I had a PC, an Alfred Packard with a 386 processor and several games including, “Star Trek: 25th Anniversary” and “Microsoft Flight Simulator.” I had to run a boot disk on a floppy to get either to work properly. That was when I saw, for the first time, CG animation on TV and I was enthralled. A year later, I picked up my first copy of Doom and never went back.
I never had a Nintendo 64, but that doesn’t mean that I never played “Golden Eye.” That game singlehandedly changed the way we saw and played first person shooters. Yes, PCs had been doing it for year by that point, but we’d never seen one like that on a console before. By that point, computers were becoming more common but the average household still didn’t have one. A game console, on the other hand, was quite common. And that was back in the day when Licensed Games were actually well done and not thrown together quickly to turn a quick buck, like we see all too often these days. It was a quality game.
Then came along the PlayStation and Dreamcast, but at this point, I was more interested in PC games. I remember getting a PS1 for Christmas and I was pretty darn excited. That was when things really started taking off for the gaming world, in my opinion. Two of the best games I’ve ever played were on my PS1: “Resident Evil” and “Silent Hill.” Both of those games changed the way I saw video games in a really big way. They terrified me and showed the world that a compelling story to a video game can make or break it.
As the capacity for making prettier games increased so did the quality of narrative. With the ability to add actual voice acting and fleshing out the characters, games started taking a more movie-like direction. This was about the time that “Quake 2” came out with a metal soundtrack performed by actual musicians. It was killer! Next I remember was “Interstate ’76.” If you got this game from nothing other than the music, you were still in for a treat—though the game itself was really good AND they got John DeLancy to be the bad guy. Those who don’t know that name clearly didn’t watch “Star Trek: The Next Generation” otherwise they would have recognized the unmistakable voice of Q! I still to this day listen to that soundtrack. Games with full on interweaving story arcs began rearing their ugly heads with games like “Star Wars: Tie Fighter,” which explored a lot of Grand Admiral Thrawn’s time on the Chimera. “Rebel Assault II” was fantastic and featured live action cutscenes. The game that sticks with me the most was “Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight” which followed the exploits of Rebel-Operative-turned-Jedi-Knight, Kyle Katarn. I remember playing that game solely for watching the spectacularly-done live action cutscenes that followed a completed mission. I’m sure there were others like it that escape my memory, but that was kind of the defining moment for me when games began to really focus on the story as much as the gameplay.
They only got better from there. My freshman year of college I missed a lot of class due solely to a game that changed things for me in a big way. “Star Trek: Klingon Academy” was an epic game with live action cutscenes starring none other than Christopher Plummer reprising his role as General Chang from “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. It was a prelude to that movie even though it came out twenty years after the film, but it was the first time that I had ever played a game that tied directly into one of my favorite movies of all time. It does happen again later, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
This was also about the time that one of the most popular games in history made its debut: “Half Life.” Yet another epic game with literally HOURS of gameplay and a compelling story. It was the first game that I remember where the characters in the game had articulating jaws, so when they talked, their jaws moved instead of simply having a mouth drawn onto the face. I played that game over and over and over again, never getting tired it. Then the mods came out for it: “Counter Strike,” “Day of Defeat,” the list goes on.
Somewhere in that time the GameCube emerged and I specifically remember my roommate getting one. We never put that thing down. It was by far the best graphics on a game console I’d ever seen. I eventually got one and Madden was my game of choice for forever. I specifically remember saying to myself that there was no way they would ever be able to top the graphics of that system. Most games utilized motion capture at that point, so the movement of the characters was as natural as it could get. I had that console for years. “Mario Sunshine” was one of my favorites. I originally bought it for my wife, but she couldn’t do the 3-D, free look thing so she opted to watch me play instead.
“Rouge Squadron II” was the reason I bought a GameCube and it did not disappoint. Pretty much anything in the “Star Wars” universe is okay by me, but there were other games that I enjoyed like “Eternal Darkness”—which had a decent story and really drove you to madness when screens would randomly pop up showing all your saved games deleting themselves.
One game that came out around this time was “Max Payne” and it changed EVERYTHING! Gameplay aside, the narrative feel of this game was some of the most incredible writing I’ve ever experienced in a game before or since. Hell, it was darn good for a movie or novel. The film noir feel is impeccable and I can’t say enough how good the writing is... SERIOUSLY. This was also one of first games to utilize the “bullet time” affect which is now common place in many first and third person shooters. Truly an amazing game with two equally amazing sequels.
I was a late bloomer when the Xbox/PS2 craze hit the nation. I waited and got my Xbox at a pawnshop for a fraction of the cost. The biggest game that comes to mind with the Xbox is “Halo” by far. Though I’ve never played it myself, I’ve followed the canon with great interest as it has such a rich history and intriguing stories with well-rounded characters and a pretty awesome movie, “Forward unto Dawn.” I played “GTA: San Andreas” nonstop for months. Such a great game!
Suddenly open world games like “GTA: IV” started cropping up everywhere with as the PS4 and Xbox 360 came roaring into world with record sales. “Fallout 3” and “New Vegas” had TONS of gameplay with more side missions than I could count, the writing teams that Bethesda Games have must be enormous. Games like “LA Noir” showed what a game company can do with facial expressions that were a cut above everything else.
I mentioned earlier about another game that tied into a one of my favorite movies and I would be remiss not to mention “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed I and II.” First off, let’s talk about the Sam Witwer. He’s the actor whose face they digitally scanned and put on the body our favorite Sith-turned-Rebellion-starter and he’s the actor whose voice was used in conjunction. I didn’t think they would be able to top the first one, but they did in a big way. Yes, the entire game could be finished in, like, eight hours, but from top to bottom, start to finished, it was one of the most beautifully-polished game I’ve seen in a long, LONG, time. It really showcased what the previous generation consoles could do and I sincerely hope they re-master and re-release them for the next generation consoles so they’ll look even better.
Some of the best games I’ve ever played were the Arkham games. Great, engaging stories, spot on voice acting with the original cast of the “Batman Animated Series” from the early ‘90s and some of the smoothest game mechanics I’ve ever experienced. Call of Duty got a new breath of life and some seriously great games with both excellent single player campaigns and online gameplay. It seems that nowadays these games are so cinematic that they’re more like interactive movies. I got an Xbox One for Christmas and wow is it amazing! “Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag” is simply incredible! Now there’s a game franchise that has revolutionized storytelling in a video game format. Incorporating real historical events and people and locals into a work of historical fiction used to be reserved for movies and novels, but that’s no longer the case.
In only about thirty years, video games went from a small, focused market to one of the only entertainment-based industries to not fully feel the effects of the recession. For roughly sixty bucks, you can have up eighty hours of entertainment, depending on the game you pick. That truly is the most bang for your buck. And if things have progressed this far in the last thirty years, I can only imagine what the next thirty years will bring!

For too long, the Syfy Channel has strayed from the course. Though movies like “Sharknado” are entertaining, Syfy has had a significant lack in quality shows and movies as of late. With the cancelation of “Warehouse 13” and “Eureka” very few shows on Syfy have truly impressed me. “Stargate Universe” had potential, but it sputtered and died just as it was getting good. Hmmm... sounds like another show that I really enjoyed **cough—“Firefly”—cough**. Though “Haven” intrigued me, it was no “Battlestar Galactica” or “Stargate SG1.”
In an interview with “Entertainment Weekly,” Syfy admitted that they strayed from the course and dropped the ball. They admitted that they shied away from high budget series like “BSG” and opted for low-budget shows with ultra-low production costs like “Face Off.” The only show that had a decent budget was canceled during the second season and that was “SGU,” sadly.
With their new direction, and some series synopses that sound very intriguing, I sincerely hope that they will hold true to their word and return to their roots in quality science fictions movies and TV shows. I’m as ardent a fan of “B” horror movies as the next guy, but some of the movies that Syfy was putting out were complete garbage. I mean, how many movies can a station make about sharks in a tornado, or Bigfoot, or giant volcanos that spawn giant tornados, or rip-offs of Indiana Jones, or cataclysmic earthquakes, or aliens that all look like humans, or giant sharks, or giant gators, or giant spiders, or giant snakes, or cyborg sharks, or giant Barbara Streisands? Wait, that “South Park” and it was amazing! These movies, with laughable special effects and CG models that look like they belong in a Play Station 1 or GameCube game, certainly do not possess the quality that a nationally-televised, primetime TV show or movie should. It was simply not sustainable while retaining any respect from their counterparts and competition... and FANS.
I remember a time when shows like “SG1” and “Stargate: Atlantis” and “Farscape” were running weekly and they were all canceled due, in part, to budget issues. If you’re not willing to pony up the dough, you will lose your fan base, your ratings will plummet and you’ll be forced to put out garbage just to stay afloat. When a company sacrifices quality for quantity, they generally lose—especially when it comes to syndication. Science fiction is an interesting beast. If you are to make quality sci-fi movies and TV shows, you have to accept the fact that, to get ratings, you have put money into it—more specifically, special effects. Syfy is at a distinct disadvantage. “Breaking Bad” is a prime example of a show that killed it in the ratings and had a low budget because it wasn’t dependent on high-end special or makeup effects. AMC is doing things right, they dump a TON of money into “The Walking Dead,” and look at the ratings that show is bringing in! They broke even more rating records in the premier of season five. It’s a show that requires quality production. If AMC balked at the cost of making convincing zombies, or realistic blood splatter through CGI, that show would not be enjoying the accolades it currently holds.
The aspect of Syfy going back to programing that made it stand out is an exciting one, indeed!
There are five series coming out that I think could possibly save Syfy from the backlash they’ve gotten recently through their poor choice of programing.
“Ascension” is a six-hour miniseries with the expansion possibility about an alternate timeline where Kennedy, worried that the Cold War could spell the end of the human race, sends one hundred men, women and children into to space to colonize another planet on trip that will take a hundred years to complete aboard a self-sustaining ship. The show starts fifty years into the trip (i.e. present day) with the first murder aboard the ship since its launch. Sounds promising.
“12 Monkeys.” That’s right, I said “12 Monkeys.” Need I say more?
“Childhood’s End” is another miniseries based on an Arthur C. Clarke novel where aliens invade and rule Earth without precipitating a war and create a utopia-like society free of human individuality and culture. I could get into that.
“The Expanse” is a TV series based on a series of books by James S.A. Corey starring Thomas Jane (that’s right, the Punisher). It takes place two hundred years in the future where a missing girl leads to an adventure to expose the “greatest conspiracy in human history.” Sounds intriguing for sure.
“Hunters” is a TV series based on Whitley Strieber’s “Alien Hunter” and follows a Philadelphia cop and his search for his wife’s killer. He discovers a government agency that’s sole purpose is to defend us against a terrorist group... from another planet. Sounds like the “Body Snatchers” meets “Men in Black.” I like the sound of that.
Good on Syfy for admitting that they made a mistake and are going through the steps to regain their former glory. It seems to me that once they went from the Sci-Fi Channel to Syfy, things went spiraling downward. If they really put some money into these new series, they should do well and possibly bring back some of those lost, wayward fans that were burnt out on old clichés and giant monsters.
Let’s see some quality shows with good writing and good special effects that will dazzle us not disappoint us. And no more Sharknados... PLEASE!

5: Battlestar Galactica (the remake, not the 70’s or 80’s series):
Weighing in at number five, Battlestar Galactica is a series that I have only recently watched and is freshest in my memory. It’s relatively new take on a classic—and if you ask me—not-so-great series. This reboot has a little bit of everything, action, drama, intimate relationships (sex) and everything in between. The survival of the Human Race from a race of sentient robots may seem old-fashioned, but with Cylons that look and feel like Humans, you get a great device of several plot twists. The special effects are both stunning and unique in as far as cinematography is concerned. Quick zoom-ins and zoom-outs during space battles make things feel disorienting, but is an interesting choice given that all the space scenes were CG. The characters—all of them—are unique and well written. Admiral Adama is quickly climbing the ranks in my list of favorite ship commanders. The fact that this series is even on my list despite the fact that I haven’t finished it yet should say something about.

4: Stargate SG1:
I didn’t get to watch this series when it was airing. I had seen the movies a couple of times but never enough to really know the ins and outs like I do with any Star Trek or Star Wars movie. After much prodding from a friend of mine, I finally put it on my Netflix queue. I started watching it after I was laid off from my first job in Greely and found myself with a LOT of extra time. I chewed through this series in a matter of weeks. Richard Dean Anderson breathed new life into Colonel O’Neill’s character and Michael Shanks did an amazing job replicating James Spader’s interpretation of Dr. Jackson. The first season was a little rough (it dragged at times), but once they killed Apophis, the series really took off. The hunting of the System Lords was a great story arc, and introducing the Asgard as stereotypical Gray Aliens was a great little twist. I was especially excited when the Ori story arc started. I remember thinking “How the hell are they going to survive this?” I was inevitably disappointed when they ended up cancelling the series just as things seemed hopeless for the Earth and Stargate Command. The SyFy movie “Arch of Truth” was a satisfyingly happy ending, but I feel they could have drug that series on for another two or three seasons to tie up those lose ends. Either way, it’s one of my favorites. And yes, Porter, you write. I did like it.

3: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
I remember watching the pilot episode of DS9 when I was kid. I remember Locutus cutting through the defense fleet at Wolf 359 like it was yesterday. That epic battle is one of my favorite Star Trek space battles of all time, followed closely by the final battle of the Dominion Wars at the end of the series. I still stand by the fact that I think the last four season of DS9 are arguably the best four seasons of Star Trek EVER. The characters are deepest in Star Trek. My personal favorite is Garrek, the former Obsidian Order Agent, turned tailor with more connections in the Cardassian Government than cops at a Duncan Donut Shop. Even at the end of the series you still don’t know everything about him. There are a TON gut-wrenching episodes that make you question your own morality—like in the episode where Sisko fakes a holorecording between the Dominion Brass about invading Romulan Space to bring the Romulans into the Dominion War, make you cry uncontrollably—like in the episode where Jadzia Dax is killed by Gul Dukat or the episode where the crew of the Defiant respond to a stranded Starfleet Officer and talk to her the whole trip there only to find that she had been dead for years and was talking to them from the past, and leave you with a general feeling unsettle-ness—like in the episode where you first get a real look at the Jem’Heddar and they fly a fighter kamikaze-style into a Galaxy-Class starship destroying it and killing everyone on board. The first few seasons, though still good because it was departure from traditional Star Trek, dragged at times. I love the sub-arc with Sloan and Section 31. I thoroughly enjoyed the Mirror Universe episodes. It is firmly on my top five.
2: Firefly:
I often coin Firefly as the best sci-fi series since Star Trek: The Next Generation. In its short life of only 14 episodes, it completely changed the way people looked at sci-fi as a genre. It was the perfect marriage of the science fiction and western genres with epic space battles and even better western-style shootouts. Going from highly technological planets like Persephone to the desolate wastelands of Frontier Colonies gives us a great contrast in scenery and feel. My favorite episode is “Out of Gas” by far. It’s a great origins episode. This show has had such a profound influence on me. I find myself quoting the movie constantly and stealing phrases that tickle my fancy. The show managed to build a fan base to rival some of the biggest sci-fi franchises in history in only 14 episodes. That’s simply incredible. It has the perfect mixture of humor, drama and action. There was a little cartoon circulating on Facebook a while back that depicted two people talking. I don’t remember the exact conversation in the cartoon, but one person complimented the other on his Firefly shirt. In the next box the shirt bearer says something like, “Thanks, I have the whole first season on DVD.” The next box the other asks, “What about the second season.” The next boxes depict the shirt bearer going from smiling, to sad, to crying, to sobbing uncontrollably. Anyone who’s a Firefly fan knows that sting all too well...

1: Star Trek: The Next Generation:
I kinda gave away number one on my list with Firefly, but nonetheless, TNG is BY FAR my favorite sci-fi series of all time. It breathed new life into a dying franchise and spawned three more series (“Enterprise,” “Deep Space Nine” and “Voyager”). I grew up watching the voyages of the USS Enterprise –D, my favorite Captain is Picard, my favorite First Officer is Riker. I can tell you where I was when Tasha Yarr died (I was in my room, living in Fairplay. I had a wire coat hanger/tin foil hybrid antenna connected to my old TV), when Lull died (I was in my room, sitting on bed in New York), when Data died (in a theater in Salida with Russ and Bonnie) and when the series ended (in my living room in New York). When I was in 3rd grade, my friends and I would don colored shirts and combadges that I would make by taking several strips of scotch tape, sticking them to the cover of my Star Trek Magazine and tracing over the TNG symbol. We would then peel them off and stick them to our shirts. I’m half way to obtaining ALL of the TNG cast’s autographs. I need, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn and Patrick Stewart. There isn’t an episode of TNG that I don’t like, though some I like better than others. This is kinda embarrassing, but I always looked up to Wesley Crusher, I could relate to him and now Wil is a huge advocated for nerds everywhere and an amazing person. When the series ended, I was nothing short of devastated. How would I go on without hearing the words “Next time, on an all-new episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.” It was the end of an era. Fortunately, I had DS9 to fill the void in my empty heart—though it was no TNG.
I remember when “Generations” came out. For my 13th birthday, my Dad took me and Brian Lynch and Ben Stewart to go see it in the theaters and we had a blast. The whole series in general was captivating with strong characters, good writing and some of the most amazing season finale cliffhangers of ALL TIME! I could hardly wait until the next season would air and I would get to see my heroes struggle against impossible odds and win; discover new species; solve unexplained mysteries and boldly go where no one had gone before.

We have all seen our fair share of reboots lately, haven’t we? It seems movie reboots are cropping up everywhere nowadays. Are they all really necessary? Do they work? Do they keep true to the original? I don’t know. It seems to me to be a mixed bag of good and bad. Spider-Man, Star Trek, “True Grit,” “Evil Dead,” “TMNT,” “Total Recall” the ”Dark Knight” trilogy... the list goes on and on. It seems that even movies that aren’t classics are getting a reboot.
Reboots can make or break a franchise. Look at Star Trek, for instance. Abrams’ reimagining of the Star Trek universe breathed new life into the franchise. I know my best friend Russ will disagree with me, but I thoroughly enjoyed “Into Darkness,” which was nothing more than a reboot of “Wrath of Khan.” For me it struck home that no matter how messed up a timeline can get, some things in history are destined to repeat themselves. They were GOING to encounter Khan, someone was GOING to die in the Enterprise’s engine core, the Enterprise was GOING to face off with another Starfleet vessel. I really, REALLY liked it.
“The Amazing Spider-Man” was another reboot that saved the franchise. I’m sorry to say that, after Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 3,” I was ready to give up on the webslinger, but then the Marc Webb reboot came out and—WOW!—did I like it! Andrew Garfield jumped into that role so well, and having Gwen Stacy instead of MJ in there was a nice change. It was a little darker, but still playful as a nerdy Spider-Man fought crime and gave some great one-liners. I have yet to see the second, but I’m sure it will be better than “Spider-Man 2.” Setting up the Sinister Six was a fabulous idea, rather than throwing Doc Oc at Spider-Man alone. I sincerely hope they throw Venom into the 3rd movie. With the darker tone to which these movies have stuck, I’d love to see how that whole interaction would go down.
To be fair to Sam Raimi, the “Evil Dead” reboot was AMAZING! That movie made me squirm more times than I could count. At one point I had to look away because I could feel the bile coming up to the back of my throat. Such a good movie! That scene where main character’s girlfriend cuts her arm off with an electric turkey carver was almost more than I could handle, or when the dude gets stabbed in the tear duct with hypodermic needle. Ugh... I shudder just thinking about it.
The X-Men had a great reboot with “First Class,” but that quickly turned into an epic tale that bridged the two movies together through time travel.
I have yet to see “Robocop,” many have said “don’t waste your time,” but I LOVED the old ones (except for “Robocop 3”) so much that I HAVE to see it. I’ll probably do a blog about it once I finally see it. Same goes for “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
Again, with some grumbling from people I know, I feel that “Man of Steel” was the reboot Superman deserved! There was nothing particularly wrong with “Superman Returns”—except for the whole super-kid-thing, but they purposefully grasped at the essence of the Christopher Reeve films. Now, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE those movies but even going as far as making Brandon Routh mimic some of Reeve’s facial expression was a mistake. They could have done more with it to make stand out, but as it is, it’s nothing more than a failed attempt at mimicking the movie of an older generation. “Man of Steel” brought the epic qualities of Superman to the silver screen in a big way and I applaud Warner Brothers for it.
Then there are reboots that didn’t work at all. Once I heard that “Total Recall” didn’t even take place on Mars, I lost interest immediately. The whole point of that movie was to stop Cohaagen from exploiting the people of Mars by activating the alien tech to create an atmosphere on the planet. If it doesn’t take place on Mars, then what’s the point?
At first I was excited to hear about a “Stargate” reboot. Ever since I watched “SG1,” I have been an ardent “Stargate” fan. Apparently, in an interview, Emmerich and Devlin admitted that they intended it to be a trilogy, but when the series took off and became hugely popular, the trilogy was a bust. Now, they want to reboot it all and do it as a trilogy—as they had originally conceived it. Problem is if they do that, they’ll undo the ENTIRE canon of the three series and it was those series that spawned the very popularity the franchise currently enjoys. I don’t like that at all. They would basically be alienating the very people who made the franchise popular enough to warrant a reboot.
“Charlee and Chocolate Factory” is another reboot fail. It’s not horrible, but it’s not “Willy Wonka” by any stretch of the imagination.
When I see all these awesome and not-so-awesome reboots, I often wonder about movies I’d like to see get a reboot. Here are a few and why:
“Jaws”: That’s right, “Jaws.” Why not? I mean, it’s a classic—done right, by the way. But I’d like to see a new shark that is the perfect blend of conventional and CG effects to make a truly terrifying shark. Maybe in this reboot, they could stick closer to Peter Benchley’s novel and get some more of the politics in there, maybe the affair between Helen Brody and Matt Hooper, or the fact that Hooper dies in the end. They could get Hugh Jackman to play Quint. And when he’s sliding down the deck toward the stern of the boat into the shark’s mouth, he could whip out the Wolverine claws and cut the shark’s head off—now THAT would be an ending! I’m just kidding—about the Wolverine part, not Hugh Jackman, he’d be amazing in that movie.
“Chostbusters”: Now hear me out before you all crucify me! If they stuck to the exact same script, got actors that could pull off the same essence of their counterparts and used the same camera angles for each shot—basically an exact remake with updated visual effects and newer faces—how AWESOME would that be? And this would be my cast, and why:
Peter Venkman: Seth Rogan. He’s a very average-looking guy, he can act, he’s funny and seeing him don a Proton Pack would be epic. I also had Simon Pegg in mind for all the same reasons.
Ray Stanz: Andrew Garfield. As the Amazing Spider-Man, we’ve seen that he can be a nerdy smarty-pants and socially awkward all at the same time… and he has the same hairstyle.
Egon Spengler: Jim Parsons. Need I say more?
Winston Zeddmore: Terrence Howard. I preferred him as Colonel Rhodes in Iron Man over Don Cheadle. I think he could bring a little more humor to the character.
Dana Barrett: Sarah Silverman. Not only is she a total bombshell, she’s hilarious and would fit into this movie almost seamlessly.
Louis Tully: Matt Sera. His ability to be socially awkward in that endearing way is legendary.
Janine Melnitz: Mila Kunis. She has an annoying voice, can play a moody person quite well and has already played characters that ramble on and on about nothing.
Walter Peck: Jesse Eisenberg. He plays a great douche bag.
“Gremlins”: Admit it. You’d watch it!
“Jurassic Park”: And actually make it like the book (not that I don’t love these movies… except for the third one. That one wasn’t so great).
“Twilight Zone The Movie”: And still have Dan Aykroyd as the EMT, but with some fresh faces and better visual effects.
What movie would you like to see get a reboot?

5: Violator (Spawn).
Being two terrifying things rolled into one has landed this villain at number five. Being a demon from Hell is scary enough, but roll that into a creepy, fat clown and you have yourself a winning terror combo. From his first appearance in Spawn, I have always been struck by the Violator as a being to be reckoned with. His oversized jaw and mouth full of sharp teeth make him a terrifying sight to behold. Just his name alone has such an uncomfortable connotation to it that it’s off putting... and dirty. He has unlimited strength, a bad temper and many of the same powers as Spawn making him the perfect nemesis for our Hell-born hero.

4: Magneto (X-Men).
Complete control of ALL things metal is a pretty cool power to possess. Mix that with a man of decades of life experience, intelligence and poise and you have Max Eisenhardt. Now, throw in time in a Jewish Death Camp, multiple hardships, two name changes (Magnus and Erik Lehnsherr) and you have a powerful mutant with a real hate for people. Add people like Senator Kelly wanting to register every mutant alive and catalogue their powers and you have a mutant ready to wage war on the human race. He was THE enemy the X-Men face in the very first issue of X-Men and has been a staple in the Marvel Universe ever since. He started the Brotherhood, nearly killed Wolverine when he ripped all the adamantium out of his body and is a fervent believer that not only are the mutants superior to humans in every way, humans should be dominated and subjugated as slaves. He’s not crazy and that’s what makes him scary. Every move he makes is calculated and has purpose.

3: Lex Luthor (Superman/Action Comics).
Combining an evil genius and billionaire into one person makes a dangerous man. His moto is “Mind over muscle” and when it comes to Luthor, there isn’t a more fitting moto. Not a physically imposing man (at least in the earlier comics), his “superpower” was his intelligence—though he later gains the physique of a superhero and builds a mechanized suit that can stand the strain of hand-to-hand combat with his arch nemesis, Superman. One of the only villains that have actually defeated Superman without rising so much as clenched fist to him, he is a force to be reckoned with. His monetary resources rival that of the Wayne Estate and his intelligence also rivals that of the black-clad vigilante. He was quick to capitalize on Superman’s supposed death and helped create CADMUS, an anti-Justice League organization that specialized in genetic manipulation and had made copies of certain Justice League members like Supergirl and Superman. He solidified his place as president of the United States of America and declared Superman and Batman as enemies of the state, pitting the rest of the Justice League against them. His schemes never end and all of them, inevitably, point to a singular purpose: Superman’s destruction.

2: Apocalypse (X-Men):
A mutant from Ancient Egypt with seemingly limitless power, Apocalypse is arguably the FIRST MUTANT in existence. Even his name, En Sabah Nur, means “The First One.” He’s thousands of years old, is able to regenerate and transfer his consciousness into other bodies, making him all but immortal. He has a laundry list of mutant abilities including, but limited to, telepathy, telekinesis, technopathy (the ability to interface with technology of all kinds with his mind) and power absorption. He can also change his own molecular structure to harden his skin, increase his physical attributes, change his size, make weapons, even wings with jets, pretty much anything he can think of. To add to his danger level, he was exposed to Celestial technology (think comparable to Asgardian technology) and gave him a higher understanding of how the universe works adding to his superhuman intelligence. His understanding of genetics, physics, engineering and biology are so far beyond anything a human can grasp that he makes the greatest minds of mankind look like Toca and Rahzar from “TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze.” His blood can heal and regenerate mutants, kill humans and be used as paint thinner (okay, not really on the paint thinner thing). This is what Frank Tieri, a longtime writer for both Marvel and DC, had to say about Apocalypse. “So what… this guy's kind of like Mr. Fantastic on steroids? Yeah, his powers have always been sort of nebulous, but as long as he's cutting through X-Men teams like Kirstie Alley through Sizzler, I don't think the fans care.”

1: The Joker (Batman).
Through every incarnation of the Joker—from the Burton/Nicholson version to the Nolan/Ledger version and everything in between, one thing remains the same: he always gives Batman a run for his money. He’s highly intelligent. He plans overly elaborate schemes that always seem to working out perfectly, even if Batman intervenes. He’s escaped from prison and Arkham numerous times. He’s a fighter. He may not possess the same caliber of fisticuffs as Batman, but there aren’t many who can beat him and he has no problem cheating, liking bringing a .44 Magnum to a fist fight or a bazooka to a knife fight. He’s ruthless. Unlike Batman, he has no qualms with killing. He killed the second Robin, killed countless innocent people, other criminals, other villains and authority figures of all kinds. Hell, in “Injustice: Gods Amongst Us,” he linked a nuclear device to Lois Lane’s heart, put the bomb in the center of Metropolis and used a kryptonite-laced version of Scarecrow’s toxin to trick Superman into killing Lois and their unborn son, setting off the bomb. He’s crazy, but not really. He may be criminally insane, but it doesn’t cloud his judgment. He gets a sick satisfaction out of the suffering of others, but he never loses sight of goals. He’s fearless and impossible to intimidate or interrogate. There isn’t a beating anyone can dole out—even Batman—that will get him to spill his guts unless it’s part of his plan. If I were a superhero, I would rather face anyone—Bane, Scarecrow, Lex Luthor, Lobo, Ra’s Al Ghul, Killer Crock, Darkseid, maybe even Doomsday—rather than the Joker. He’s impossible to predict and is always able to come up with a work around for anything you throw at him. And THAT is why he is my favorite Comic Book Villain of all time.

Darn it! I'm a day late on my Blog Tuesday! Here's Wednesday's Tuesday Blog!

Taking a good thing...

If you’re as big of a Star Wars fan as I am, I’m sure you were all cut pretty deep by the Expanded Universe (EU) being rendered irrelevant. I, for one, was quite angered by the sudden and seemingly poorly-thought-out move. With literally thousands of books, comic books and video games circling around our favorite sci-fi franchise, it was a tough pill to swallow. Being a writer, I couldn’t imagine my hard work and creativity being cast aside so effortlessly to make room for a new canon of which I was no part. When I found out, I instantly thought about my favorite authors of Star Wars like Timothy Zahn, Troy Denning, Christie Golden and Joe Schreiber, people who have made the EU what it is today. We were introduced to some pretty amazing characters like Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade, read some pretty fantastic stories like the Yuuzhan Vong War, saw some of our favorite characters give their lives like Anakin Solo and Chewbacca. My favorite series was the Legacy series and the Second Civil War. Watching Jacen turn to the dark side much in the same way Anakin Skywalker did kept me turning pages and the tragic end of that series broke my heart when Jacen killed Mara and Jaina was forced to kill Jacen.
It saddens me to think that we’ll never get to see Allana Solo grow up to be the “Queen Mother Jedi” and see what would happen next with Abeloth or the relationship between Vestara and Ben or see what would happen with the entire planet full of Sith or how they were going to bridge the gap between Luke’s time and his great grandson’s time and the second empire. It seems hard to believe that with a wealth of stories from which to pick, that Abrams and Disney couldn’t have made a trilogy based on that. Or talked to Timothy Zahn and ask him how to fit a story between canonical installments WITHOUT breaking canon or deeming the entire EU irrelevant just to fit the story for the new movies.
The part the bothers me the most is that they didn’t just come out say, “Hey, all you die-hard Star Wars fanatics out there, we’re completely erasing everything you know about Star Wars to make our new movies relevant.” At least that would’ve been owning up to their decision. Instead they gave them the “Legends” tag, meaning that they’re fables, not stories based on their experiences. It means that maybe it happened, or maybe it didn’t. Mabye Luke Skywalker fell to the dark side and finally killed the Emperor for good, or maybe he didn’t.
Wikipedia defines a legend this way: “Legend, for its active and passive participants includes no happenings that are outside the realm of "possibility", is defined by a highly flexible set of parameters which may include miracles that are perceived as actually having happened, within the specific tradition of indoctrination where the legend arises, and within which it may be transformed over time, in order to keep it fresh and vital, and realistic. Many legends operate within the realm of uncertainty, never being entirely believed by the participants, but also never being resolutely doubted.”
That being said, key elements of are left out. Take Babe Ruth for instance. He’s a legend, the “Big Bambino,” the “Sultan of Swat.” But his legendary status says nothing of how many times he struck out, which is far more than the common person could ever imagine. If these tales are “Legends” then the story of Luke falling to the dark side would have never been told and his victory over Palpatine would’ve been greatly exaggerated.
I just wish that they could’ve been more creative and worked something out where the canon was still canon. I mean every book that was published in the SW EU was scrutinized from front to back, top to bottom by a panel of people within Lucas Films to make sure that they all worked together. In some cases, major changes were required to maintain continuity, even if it changed plot points! If they can do that, they could have made movies within the EU canon. I mean, the actors are the right age to fit seamlessly into the existing EU canon. They could have done something completely original coming right off of end the Fate of the Jedi series. They could’ve done ANYTHING within the Yuuzhan Vong War and it would have been amazing! But, instead, they decided to rewrite history and change everything. All I know is that if this movie doesn’t have characters like Kyle Katarn, Jaden Korr and Kyp Duron in it, I’ll be very disappointed.
For all the negative things I’m saying about this drastic and disappointing decision, there are some positives to come of this. Namely, FIVE more Star Wars movies! A trilogy and two stand-alone movies will entertain us EVERY YEAR for five years starting in 2015. That’s pretty amazing and exciting for any and all Star Wars lovers out there.
I had an opportunity to talk with Christie Golden at StarFest in Denver this year and I picked her brain about how she felt regarding this big change. Needless to say, she was disappointed. It’s a huge undertaking to write for Star Wars with a rigorous editing process and major collaboration with other authors as most Star Wars books are books of a series featuring multiple authors. All that hard work, plotting, writing, editing, rewriting, holding meetings with her cowriters and making all their ideas come together to make a great narrative, down the drain with one little decision.
She was poised for another three-book contract featuring Jaina Solo that was swept out from under her feet. But she had an uncanny knack for looking on the bright side of the situation. She said to me, “How do we know this won’t be the best thing that ever happened to Star Wars?” and I had to agree—albeit begrudgingly. It could be huge, setting a catalyst for a whole new EU that could expand into yet another epic continuation with thousands of books, comics and video games. Only time will tell.
She had a good point saying that never in all the years that she watched and loved Star Wars did she ever think that she’d see Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fischer all together to reprise their famous roles on screen again. In that, she was absolutely correct. I never thought I’d see the day when they all came together for another Star Wars movie—much less another trilogy. And she also pointed out the Abrams has done a bang-up job with the Star Trek movies as well, and we all know that Disney has breathed new life into the Marvel Franchise with some pretty amazing movies.
Despite demoting the current EU, I can’t say I’m not excited for these new movies. They will be EPIC and with Han, Leia, Luke and Chewie back together, you can’t really go wrong. Tell me how all of you feel about it.

It's the time you've all been waiting for! Blog Tuesday! YAY!!!!
This one is a little sad, but true and I probably won't make any friends with this one, but...

Five Legitimate and Ultimately Depressing Reasons Why "Firefly" Will Never Fly Again.

I know there are millions of people out there that love "Firefly"—I’m one of them. In fact, I would venture so say in its short run it was the best science fiction TV series since Star Trek: The Next Generation—that is, of course, my opinion. The writing, acting and special effects were all superb, no doubt about it. However, contrary to popular believe, the show was not cancelled because the people at Fox are idiots (the debacle with airing the second episode first and the confusion that that sparked aside, of course). Production costs were too high for the ratings the show was receiving. Could they have advertised it more? Yeah, probably. I didn’t even know the show existed until I saw "Serenity" on DVD. It is with a sad and heavy heart—despite the rabid cult following the show has now—that we have to accept an inevitable truth: "Firefly" will never be rekindled and, in my humble opinion, here are some reasons why.
1: Money. The people at fox aren’t stupid. Right now they are enjoying what I’m sure is MILLIONS of dollars a year in residuals from "Firefly." They went as far as trying to trademark the crocheted hat that Jayne got from his mom which is hugely popular—you can’t go to a sci-fi convention without seeing at least half a dozen of them. Why, oh why, would Fox put money into a show that, as of right now, is making bank on its own? Having to put practically nothing into a dead franchise and making good money off of it is capitalism at its best. And yes, with advancement in CG technology, the show would probably be cheaper to make now versus ten years ago, but Fox is clearly not interested in reviving the series. And they own all the rights, ‘nough said.

2: Time. It’s been over ten years since the show’s cancellation, meaning that all the actors and actresses (Fillion, Torres, Tudyk, Baccarin, Baldwin, Staite, Maher, Glau and Glass) who portrayed our favorite characters are ten years older. To simply pick up where the show left off would be impossible as it would be unbelievable. They would have aged ten years in appearance between two episodes. It would have to be a continuation off the end of "Serenity" which means no Book and no Wash. And frankly, "Firefly" without Wash is like "Monte Python" without Eric Idle or John Cleese and that is unacceptable.

3: Popularity. Let’s face it, we love the underdogs. Part of the reason "Firefly" is so popular is because it was cancelled so early in its life. Would the show have enjoyed such an ardent following eventually had it not been cancelled? Yeah, I feel it would. It was an amazing show. Like the Giants against the Patriots in Superbowl XLII, we rooted for "Firefly" against the big bad corporate entity known as Fox—only this time, the underdog lost. Problem is "Firefly" wasn’t as hugely popular as it is today and that’s why it was cancelled in the first place.

4: Odds. Nathan Fillion said in an interview that if he won the lotto, he’d buy the rights to "Firefly" from Fox. The odds of Fillion winning the lotto are probably slightly better than those of Fox reviving the series on their own. There was a fan-made website out there where you could pledge money to Fillion so that he might buy the rights. However, the sight was shut down when Joss Whedon’s sister-in-law—who is also a writer for many of Joss’s current and past projects—publicly denounced the site saying that the show was fun while it lasted and that she and Joss knew it was over. If the creator of the show isn’t even interested in reviving the series, what chance does it have?

And…

5: Commitment. As of right now, a good number of the cast who resided within the airtight walls of Serenity have regular, paying gigs elsewhere. Fillion has "Castle", which is hugely popular right now. Torres is currently a regular on the show "Suits". Baccarin was in 29 episodes of "Homeland" last year and is currently in a pilot episode of a show called "Warriors" which isn’t out yet. Both Glau and Maher—ironically enough—are working together for Warner Brothers on the series "Arrow." Tudyk’s and Glass’s characters are dead, so we wouldn’t see them returning anyway. And let’s not forget "Firefly’s" creator, Joss Whedon. The man is over-committed as it is. He has his hands quite full with the most successful superhero movie franchise in history, "The Avengers." Between that and "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," there would be no way he could ever devote the time it would take to make "Firefly" the amazing series that it was. I think that a half-hearted effort in reviving "Firefly" would be worse than leaving it at 14 of the most amazing episodes in sci-fi TV history.

It’s heartbreaking to see such a great show flounder and sink beneath the foam-capped waves, but unfortunately, and disappointingly, all good things must come to an end. However, there is a silver lining to this dark cloud for those hardcore "Firefly" fans out there. There is a great graphic novel series by Dark Horse Comics that started back in 2007 with "Those Left Behind." There are 3 volumes so far and the 4th will start in November of this year. So take solace in that and remember, in the words of Adam Baldwin, “Serenity Always.”